July 23, 2009

Twilight panel at Comic-Con

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Chris Weitz take questions from the crowd and preview footage in San Diego.As soon as the "Twilight" portion of Summit Entertainment's panel began, fans started screaming and it didn't stop once director Chris Weitz was joined onstage by Ashley Greene, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson.

The room of mostly female fans erupted into deafening screams when Lautner and Pattinson entered, with dozens of them yelling, "I love you, Rob!" or "I love you, Taylor!"

As the stars were asked about the filming of the movie, Lautner talked about how important his character's various transformations were to the way he approached the role.

"Jacob goes through a lot in this movie—he transforms mentally and emotionally," Lautner explained. "The most challenging for me was physically, so I had a lot of hard work cut out for me after filming 'Twilight.' I worked really hard to transform Jacob's body so I could portray him correctly for all you guys. And I hope you guys are pleased when you see the results."Comment: Here's how crazy the Twilight phenomenon is. People were camping out Monday night for a Thursday panel. For a chance to spend an hour with the Twilight stars and 6,500 other fans in a huge room.

Comic-Con 2009: 10 Kick-Ass Sights from the Show Floor, Day 2Even with a 6,500 seating capacity, the line for Hall H was never fewer than 1000 fans strong. At 8am in the morning, we estimated that over 8000 people were already in line, braving the San Diego sun for a chance to sit in on the Disney 3D, Avatar, and yes, Twilight movie panels. We took unabashed glee when the event staff announced to the line that the Twilight panel had reached capacity--over 250 people immediately dropped out of line after the announcement.This shows why it's important to have genuine Native actors and Native lore in Native-themed productions. For many people, Twilight will be the most significant Native experience of their lives.

The Native actors in New Moon eventually should get a piece of this action. But imagine if a Native actor were getting the same attention as Taylor Lautner. People would be clamoring to know more about Indians because of him.

Anyway, we didn't see the Twilight panel, but we did see the stars up close and personal at a nearby theater. More on that later.